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Korean chicken soup `samgyetang` to be exported to the U.S.

Korean chicken soup `samgyetang` to be exported to the U.S.

Posted July. 31, 2014 05:29,   

한국어

Korea has paved a way for the export of its signature stamina-boosting samgyetang (a chicken soup with ginseng) to the U.S. The Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Ministry said Wednesday that poultry processing firm Harim will start shipping samgyetang to the U.S. early next month. Another processed samgyetang maker Maniker will began their exports from mid-August.

It took 10 years to export the food to the U.S. since Korea requested it to the U.S. government in 2004. In 2008, inspectors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture`s Food Safety and Inspection Service visited Korea`s samgyetang processing facilities for due diligence only to announce a rejection. After complementing to meet sanitation levels as required by the U.S., the facilities again went through due diligence and passed quarantine inspections. And in May this year, the U.S. government finally approved heat-treated poultry imports from Korea.

Oh Soon-min, the agriculture ministry`s quarantine policy director, said, "It is the first time that a Korea`s livestock product is exported to the U.S., though it is processed food," adding, "Since Korea lifted the U.S.` stiff non-tariff barrier, we are in a favorable position to export samgyetang elsewhere." The latest news has significant meaning in that samgyetang`s sanitation management levels equal those of the U.S. Harim will first ship 40 tons which will be sold in large retailers including Korean retailer H Mart.

The agriculture ministry is also in quarantine talks with China and the EU for exports of samgyetang. Korea`s samgyetang exports reached 1,894 tons (9.37 U.S. million dollars) last year, with shipment to Japan (1,179 tons) taking the lion`s share.